Eight CIA agents were killed yesterday at a Forward Operating Base in Khowst:
A bomber slipped into a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday and detonated a suicide vest, killing eight CIA officers in one of the deadliest days in the agency’s history, current and former U.S. officials said.
The attack took place at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khowst province, an area near the border with Pakistan that is a hotbed of insurgent activity. An undisclosed number of civilians were wounded, the officials said. No military personnel with the U.S. or North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces were killed or injured, they said.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the CIA had a major presence at the base, in part because of its strategic location.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a message posted early today on its Pashto-language website. The statement, attributed to spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, said the attacker was a member of the Afghan army who entered the base clad in his military uniform. It identified him only as Samiullah.
Getting hard to tell the cowboys from the Indians, over there.
Which is probably the subtext of the Taliban’s statement.
I see the inability to tell friend from foe as one of the key elements of my viewpoint as to why we cannot “win” in AF.
Even if we know that Ahmed is our friend/ally on Monday (and let us assume that he truly is), there is no assurance that Ahmed will be our friend/ally on Friday.
I also read that a large number of Afghan men were beheaded today for cooperating with the government. I didn’t read much of the story, it was a passing headline.
Makes you wonder – which government?
May God who has the power
over both the living and the
dead, who himself rose again from
the dead, Christ our true God;
through the prayers of his all-pure
mother; of the holy, glorious
and all-laudable apostles; of our
holy and god-bearing fathers
and mothers; and of all the saints;
establish in the mansions of
the righteous, the souls of his
servants who have been taken
from us; may he give them rest in
the bosom of Abraham, and
number them among the Just; and
may he have mercy on all of us
for he is good and loves mankind.
Give eternal rest, O Lord, in
blessed repose, to the souls of your
servants, who have departed
this life, and make their memory
eternal.
Amen.
Lex, always has been difficult to tell the cowboys from the indians there. Sometimes the are one and the same.
It’s not hard for me. Our men are the cowboys. We have sent them into indian country and given them ROE that inevitably lead to events like this. It is the responsibility of the civilian leadership and the senior commanders to give the troops on the ground every opportunity to carry out the mission and defend their own lives. That leadership continues to fail.
As far as the war goes, if we’re not going to fight it, let’s get everyone out and surrender. In a few decades, after they roll up Europe, our grandchildren can fight them here. Because now or or later, easy or hard, we will either fight them to the death or we will submit.
to ASM826
As somber as your comments may let us feel, you may be right in the not so far future.Except for a few other countries, most of the european ones are kind of afraid to get really involved in that war against terrorism. History might just repeat itself one more time…
The reports I’m hearing today, Thursday, on the radio are that the bomber was invited to the CIA compound and was being groomed (maybe not the right word) as a ‘source’, and that he was not searched upon his arrival. Which says to me that the bomber had some form of connections with the bad guys to begin with, maybe even being one of them(?), so our people should have handled the situation with more security. And also, it appears that someone forgot the lesson taught through the death of Ahmed Shah Masood when it was fake newsmen with a bomb-laden camera that did the damage.
I weep for their families.